Beholden to Nothing
by ChibiJaime
Summary: Throughout the course of the war, Jak meets a variety of people that both help and hurt the cause... and each one plays a part in the story he has to tell. Story arc, uncompleted. Chap. 2 now up! R&R appreciated and encouraged.
1. Little Bits of Lightning

{/Part one in a mini-series story arc I'm writing. This introduces one of a few extra characters that will be making appearances at random... this one is the orphanage matron Rayne.  
  
Many thanks to Aya and GreenElfie, who read this on DeviantArt and told me it looked okay. OOC-ness issues will be dealt with when I more-than-likely edit this later. Implied DaxTess, TornAshelin in later chapters.  
  
Rayne's lullaby is "The Scarlet Tide" by Allison Kraus. In truth, Rayne is NOT a very good singer... ^^;/}  
  
~=~Little Bits of Lightning~=~  
  
Crashing into walls he could handle. It was the aftershock that he couldn't... especially when he happened to take out one or two Krimzon Guards in the process.  
  
Jak scooped up Daxter's form in his arms and took off running. The little ottsel was okay... just jarred by the crash. Jak couldn't risk too much with him, though. He had to find a place to hide until the guards cooled off.  
  
Firing off two shots behind him, nailing the guards hard enough to stun them, he spun back to look where he was going. If he was right, there should be a place near here that would willingly harbor members of the Underground. He just had to shake most of the guards, first.  
  
After a good ten minutes of running, all Jak could hear was the guards shouting about how they had lost him, and he took a brief moment to look around. One of the central-road buildings caught his attention. Little ornaments hung in the windows, made of painted metal and broken glass. He could see pictures drawn in primitive charcoal held in children's hands hanging on the walls inside.  
  
{The lady there takes care of a lot of kids,} he remembered Torn saying. {If you need to find somewhere to hide, go to her. Ask for Rayne. Just don't bother her too much.}  
  
He didn't have time just then to worry about asking. He quickly slipped in the door, panting, glad to be out of the chase.  
  
A chorus of small voices murmured in surprise as the strange teen stepped into the main room of the house. Children, at least twenty of them, stood around murmuring. The oldest, a boy, ran into the back, shouting a woman's name.  
  
"Uhhhhh..." Jak stammered. "Uh, hi... look, I'm not gonna hurt anyone... my friend's hurt, and I just need a place to hide..."  
  
"Merciful Mar!" a woman's voice cried, interrupting both Jak and the murmurs of the children. "Look at ye! Yeu poor boy... yeu're cov'red head tae toe in soot, an' yer face is scratched like th' devil 'imself had ye en 'is grasp! Donche worry, I've go' plenty'a medicines fer tha'!" Jak blinked in surprise as the thin whisp of a woman whisked out of a back room, speaking as she came out, long black hair swirling behind her, caught up in the energy of her movements. And such a strange accent! He stood speechless when she gently lifted Daxter from his arms, her long fingers gently stroking the ottsel's fur. "Oh, what a darlin' li'l fella... an' sae soft! Such a li'l piece of 'eaven, 'e es! Sae swee'! Doesn' look like 'e's 'urt too badly... jes' some scratches. Zoomer crash, I imagine?"  
  
For a moment, Jak couldn't speak. She was either psychic or a damn good guesser. "Uh... yeah. We nailed a few guards on the way..." He coughed slightly, trying to regain his normally cool composure. "Sorry to bust in on you like this. We need a place to hide until they cool down."  
  
"Oh, tha's no probl'm at all!" the lady exclaimed, still lightly petting Daxter's fur. "I'm Rayne. An' yeu?"  
  
"Jak," the teen responded lightly. "And that's Daxter."  
  
"Jak an' Daxter?" Rayne teased with a chuckle. "Soun's like a title fer somethin'." Smiling to herself, she told one of the children to prepare a bed in the back, as well as a basket with some blankets in it for the little ottsel. "Es thes li'l fella yer pet?"  
  
Quickly, Jak shook his head, following Rayne as she started to walk towards the door the child had exited through. "No... he's my best friend, actually."  
  
Rayne smiled lightly as she pushed the door open with her foot. The child had finished preparing the basket, and had gone about making the bed. The orphanage matron gently laid Daxter down in the makeshift sickbed, smoothing his fur again. "Et must be nice... bein' able to call a companion tha', ev'n when they're jes' an ottsel." Jak tried not to laugh at how surprised this woman would be when she really 'met' Daxter. "So yeu're Jak? Torn's mentioned ye at th' meetin's. Yeu've got quite a talent, bein' able to rile 'im as much as ye deu."  
  
Jak rolled his eyes as he looked around the room, walking around somewhat absently. "Torn couldn't give a shit if I lived or died anyway." After a moment, he turned back to Rayne, who was pulling on a pair of thick gloves. "Say, don't mind me bein' rude, but why are you running an orphanage? You seem a nice enough lady. Why aren't you married or something?"  
  
"I was," Rayne responded quietly, "but I hav'n't seen me 'usband fer high close tae three years now."  
  
Jak blinked, then nodded slowly. "Oh... sorry I brought it up." He started to look around again, his eyes catching a picture on a shelf. Careful with the fragile frame, he lifted it in one hand. "...This is a nice picture. Is this him?"  
  
Rayne turned from what she was doing to glance at him, then smiled softly, "Aye. That's m'weddin' picture. Ah, I was happy then... but I manage now." She turned fully, and Jak recognized the tell-tale traces of an oily green substance on her gloves. "Yer li'l friend will be fine. I rubbed some'a thes ento his fur..." She motioned to a health pack, broken open at the top to get at the eco inside. "...Could I, ah... getche tae 'elp me take me gloves off? I... can't touch 'em..."  
  
Surprised as he was, Jak complied, pulling the gloves off the woman's small hands. She winced when some of the eco dropped off onto her arm, and Jak gawked in surprise at what happened. The stuff burned her skin, like a corrosive acid. Like dark eco would to a normal person. "...How in the...?"  
  
Instantly, Rayne pulled away, covering the wound with one hand. "I don' like talkin' about it. Th' bed's ready. Why donche get some rest?"  
  
"...Sure. Whatever." He sighed, unlatching the ring from the belts that crossed his chest. "Say, Rayne. Daxter... he'll be okay, won't he?"  
  
The woman smiled at last, nodding a little. "Of course 'e will. 'e's a tough li'l fella from th' looks of 'im."  
  
With that, she stepped out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her.  
  
*****  
  
"When I recall his partin' words, must I accept his fate or take myself far from thes place?" Jak blinked awake at the sound of a woman's voice singing. It was night... he could hear the guards talking outside. They were no longer looking for him. But the woman was sad as could be in her song... was she using this as a lullaby or something? He got to his feet, walking slowly into the main room, looking at the girl that held a three year old in her arms. The child must have been crying before, but at the sound of the quiet song, he had calmed. "I thought I heard a black bell toll, a li'l bird did sing. Man has no choice when 'e wants ev'rythin'..." Jak's mouth moved without words. She didn't have the best voice in the world, but it was nice... soothing. But she sounded sadder with each word. "We'll rise above th' scarlet tide tha' trickles down through th' mountain and separates th' widow from th' bride..."  
  
"...That was really pretty."  
  
Rayne almost jumped, but kept herself from doing so in order to keep from waking the child in her arms. "Oh! Jak, yeu scared me... Blaire had a bad dre'm... I 'ad tae 'elp 'im sleep."  
  
Nodding, Jak knelt next to her, looking at the child. "...With such a sad song?"  
  
"Th' Scarlet Tide," she answered simply. "Et's m'life en a nutshell. I remember ev'rythin' sae well. But donche worry too much weth et." She almost stood, but Jak beat her to it, lifting the child from her arms. "Oh... yeu're a saint, dear. 'e goes en tha' bed ov'r there."  
  
Standing, the girl brushed off her knees as Jak spoke, gently tucking the child in. "Do you like it here? I mean... staying with all these kids in the slums."  
  
Rayne just shook her head, walking around to check the other children quietly. "Ef yeu're askin' ef I'd give up thes' li'l'uns jes' tae leave, no. I don' think there's anythin' for 'em 'ere en th' slums, but Torn 'elps me keep 'em safe..."  
  
"You keep mentioning Torn. You like him?"  
  
To that, Rayne snorted, heading towards the back room. "Ha! Th'man's go' anger management probl'ms tha' Erol 'imself'd be jealous of."  
  
Jak couldn't help but laugh as he followed her out, hands behind his head. "I take it you're not fond of the good commander."  
  
"'e could be dancin' around en 'is knickers fer all I care, an' I woul'n't give 'im a sec'nd glance! Th'man's not go' an ounce'a kindness en 'im." She sighed, shaking her head. "'e an' I go way back."  
  
"I won't press further." He watched with a toned down expression as Rayne leaned against the shelf where the basket containing Daxter sat, reaching into the basket to lift the sleeping ottsel from it. Her movements were so careful that he didn't even stir, and just curled up tighter into the warm spot he suddenly had when she cradled him carefully. "Heh... you like animals."  
  
Rayne grinned. "M'secret's out! I love li'l critters of all sorts, 'specially otts'ls. Never seen one sae soft b'fore, though..." She smiled when Daxter made a sound that almost sounded like a purr... Jak remembered the first time Daxter had done that. It had scared poor Daxter so badly that he hadn't slept for the rest of the night. "S'how long ye been with th' li'l fella?"  
  
"Oh, a lot longer than you'd believe. He's a near constant companion. I'm glad he wasn't hurt too badly, though."  
  
Smiling, Rayne leaned down to press her cheek against Daxter's fur, almost like she was listening to him breathe. "Well, he's adorable." There was a pause before Daxter shifted; whether because of being moved from his warm bed or because someone was snuggling his fur was unknown, but he did wake. Groggy blue eyes turned to the dark-haired woman, who smiled at him and scratched his back lightly. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear'eart... did I wake ye?"  
  
Jak chuckled, reaching over to pat Daxter's head playfully. "Hey there, Dax. Good to see you up and running. This is Rayne... she's letting us hang out here until the guards settle down."  
  
Without even thinking, Daxter snorted at his friend, ears tilting foreward in a sort of lop-sided fashion. "I'll thank 'er when my head stops hurtin'..."  
  
The woman jumped in surprise, her jaw dropping open as she stared at the ottsel she held in her arms. "...'e spoke!"  
  
"Daxter's just full of surprises," Jak grinned sheepishly.  
  
"Torn neglects tae mention th' oddest things. Well, one way 'er th'other, 'e's still precious." Daxter mumbled to Rayne's comment, but didn't object to the attention when she lightly rubbed his belly past his arms. "Yeu two leavin' en the mornin'?"  
  
Jak nodded. "We should. Torn's been pissed at me most of this week for something he hasn't told me yet. Might as well see if I can find out now."  
  
Snorting, Rayne laid Daxter back in the basket. "Yeu'd 'ave be'er luck gettin' a straight answer outta Pecker! But good luck."  
  
She smiled at him, then brushed out of the room. Jak decided that if he wanted a good rest, he may as well sleep now...  
  
*****  
  
"Vin? Uncle Vin, are ye 'ere?"  
  
Before Jak had even thought to get up, Rayne was up and busy at her daily routine. Her first stop? The power station. Across the room in the building alive with the sound of computers, Vin nearly lept out of his skin, spinning to look at the dark-haired woman that stood there, chuckling at his antics. "For the love of the Precursors, Rayne! Not you too! Jak scares me like that *enough*."  
  
Rayne just smiled, shaking her head as she sat down a small basket on a console with nothing on it. "Yeu're jes' worryin' tae much, Uncle. 'ere. I knew ye'd be busy t'day, sae I made ye lunch. Thought I'd drop et off on m'way tae the bazaar."  
  
Vin blinked, then laughed a little, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he walked over to pick up the basket. "You really didn't have to do that, Rayne. I would've been fine." He paused. "And aren't you getting a little old to still be calling me 'uncle'?"  
  
"Ach, like I c'n believe tha'!" the woman cried in response. "Yeu'd starve yerself b'fore ye stopped tae get a decent meal. Jes' don' ferget tae eat *that*." She smiled gently. "An' I'll only be teu old when I'm grey, Uncle Vin."  
  
Grinning slightly, Vin waved his hand as if dismissing the notion and the comment. "Right, right... anyway, I'll be fine, Rayne. Who's the parental figure here, me or you?"  
  
Rayne smirked, putting her hands on her hips. "I wonder sometimes." Laughing at the scientist's distraught expression, she reached over and poked his shoulder lightly. "I'll come by on th'way back tae visit fer a bit. Take care, Uncle Vin."  
  
Giving a little bit of a sigh, the foreman nodded. "Be careful, Rayne... the KG's on high alert today, and I know they still know your face."  
  
Rayne just nodded as she disappeared out the door. Vin just sighed, looking at a pile of boxes he had marked for delivery... and went about contacting Torn. Better then than never, after all...  
  
*****  
  
Jak felt much more comfortable with Daxter back on his shoulder, arriving back at the Underground hideout in a much better mood than he had left it in. Torn was at his desk as usual, eerily pale eyes skimming maps and charts. Smirking slightly at the older elf, he leaned foreward against the desk. "I had no idea you were so popular with the ladies."  
  
Without even lifting his eyes, Torn muttered, "Do you have something important to say, brat, or are you just here to piss me off?"  
  
"Rayne doesn't seem to like you very much," Jak replied. "She's a nice lady, I don't see how you can't get along with her."  
  
Torn growled, lifting his head just slightly. The shadow from the overhead lamp cast darkness about those ice blue eyes, and Jak couldn't help but shudder at the haunting look it gave the Underground commander. "Some things are best left undiscussed, Jak."  
  
"Not this, Torn." Torn sighed deeply, his eyes narrowing as Jak continued. "What's a woman like her doing working for the Underground? She's not a fighter. She's not built for it."  
  
The ex-KG shook his head, running his hand back over his dreds. "Rayne is sort of a special agent. She prepares health packs for the Underground, and she helps with first aid when we can't get to our medic. She also lets us stay at the orphanage if we need a place to hide out." He reached for a sheet of paper, grumbling out. "I asked her when she first joined what she wanted, and she told me flatly that it was nothing I could give... looked me in the eye as she said it." His attention turned back to the teen. "Later, she told me that if I wanted to give her anything, the best payment was information on her husband, Mihk. So Ashelin gets that for her, and she does what she can."  
  
Jak nodded. That made enough sense. But the conversation was far from over. From his perch on Jak's shoulder, Daxter piped up, "Okay, next question. Jak said that she got some green eco on 'er when she was fixin' up my wounds, and that it hurt her. What's up with that?"  
  
At this, Torn's whole form tensed. "Rayne and Mihk were arrested three years ago for harboring Underground fugitives... that's when they were separated.' Then, he growled. "She spent six months being the baron's guinea pig... she's lucky to be alive." His eyes shot to Daxter, shooting daggers. "Don't you dare bring this up to her. The whole thing upsets her anyway... and we need her help." He decided, then, to change the subject, tossing the paper he held at Jak. "Here. I've got a mission for you."  
  
The teen blinked, catching the paper with one hand. "Oh? And what's that?"  
  
"Vin needs a delivery made to an associate of his back at the strip mine. God knows Vin won't go himself, so he wants you to do it."  
  
Jak sighed lightly. "I'm always the delivery boy. Fine, fine, I'm on it. Tell Vin I won't be long."  
  
"And Jak, if you see Rayne again, tell her I'll have her payment to her this evening. It's important."  
  
*****  
  
At that moment, Rayne was walking through the alleys of the slums, heading back towards the orphanage. Gloves covered her slim hands, and she grasped the closed bag in her hands very carefully.  
  
"My dear Rayne... whatever are you doing out here, and so... alone...?"  
  
Rayne knew that sneer all too well, and she jumped when she heard it, spinning to find herself face-to-face with Erol, a devilish grin resting on the angular features of his face. She tried to back away from him, but he blocked her every move, finally backing her into a corner. "You look positively ravishing."  
  
"An' yeu look like a Lurker aft'r a night'a che'p booze an' foolery," hissed the woman in reply. "Le've me alone, Erol."  
  
"Oh, my dear, is that any way to talk to me? I just saw you coming this way, and decided to say hello." He spoke as a snake might if it would, his voice smooth and sinister. "How are those charming orphans of yours?"  
  
Frowning, Rayne made another attempt to move past Erol, who blocked her again as she spoke. "None'a yer business. I need tae ge' back. Le' me go."  
  
Erol just grinned, one hand lightly toying with Rayne's dark hair. "You really are lovely, my dear... I would love to get you out of those clothes..." It was hard for him not to laugh at her horrified face. "And into a sleek red dress. Why don't you come to supper with me? Candlelight, soft music, solitude... no one to interrupt us..."  
  
His words were cut short as Rayne's fist slammed across his right jaw. She hissed out lowly, "How *dare* yeu talk te me like tha'?! Ah'm no' yer toy tae play weth as yeu please!"  
  
Growling, Erol grabbed Rayne's wrists, forcing her to drop the bags she carried as he shoved her against the wall. He grinned dangerously as he leaned close. "Gloves, my dear? Ah yes... eco packs. Delivering to old Torn? I recall that those little shots we gave you made you unable to touch them... and yet you give them to that wet-nosed deserter whore?!"  
  
"Better th'n yeu havin' 'em, yeu twisted snake... yeu should bi'e off th' tip of yer forked tongue tae keep ye from hissin' sick innuendos!"  
  
Erol frowned, but he didn't let her go. "You're a fool to cross me, Rayne." He leaned in further, his voice like a honey-dipped dagger as his lips brushed her ear, causing her to flinch. "And that just might cost you the lives of all those children..." Slowly, he grinned, feeling Rayne's body tense. "I thought that might get your attention. Yes, that's right, all of those poor children... burned in a horrible accidental fire. They can be saved, though... if you cooperate. Tell us where Torn is hiding... and come quietly with me. You'll be handsomely rewarded for your compliance. You and your orphans will be moved to suitable living areas in the red sector of the city. And... your husband, Mihk. He'll be returned to you."  
  
"Mihk es alive?" Rayne questioned breathlessly.  
  
"As alive as you or I, my dear." Erol stood straight, releasing the woman, who sunk to the ground as if all the strength had left her legs entirely. "You have three days. Everything I promised you will receive, *if* you tell us where Torn is hiding and who is working for him." The Krimzon Guard knelt in front of the lady elf, lightly caressing her cheek with his palm, delighting in the expression of mixed fear and disgust she showed him. "You know it's not safe for those children in the slums. You'll make the right decision, Rayne. I know you will."  
  
Smirking, he turned and left, leaving the miffed and frightened woman sitting on the ground in the alley, alone.  
  
But Rayne did not go to Torn when she finally stood. Gathering her bags, she quickly ran back to the orphanage. She had to think.  
  
*****  
  
The days passed slowly, and Jak usually now spent a few minutes before his day began dropping by the orphanage. The kids adored him, and they all knew his name. The oldest boy, Lian, often went on to Jak about how he wanted to be 'just like him' once he was old enough.  
  
However, for some reason, Rayne seemed tense. She smiled weakly at him when he came, but avoided him for most of the time he was there. Something was on her mind, but she wasn't saying what.  
  
He had delivered the information from Torn days ago, but she hadn't gone to collect. The kids asked him what was wrong, but he had nothing he could really say. He could just watch and wait, just as they did.  
  
As he left that evening, he figured things would get better... he had no idea how hairy things were about to get.  
  
*****  
  
Rayne was fixing breakfast for the children in the orphanage when the door suddenly burst open. She expected at first that it was Jak, coming in before his daily runs to visit the kids, but no. There instead stood Commander Erol, watching her like a wild beast would its prey. Rayne nearly dropped the skillet, backing away from him. "Commander Erol...!"  
  
"So, Rayne... have you thought about our deal?"  
  
For a moment, her resolve wavered. Then, she lifted her chin, indignance written on her features. "I don' know anythin' about th' fug'tives yer talkin' 'bout."  
  
Erol almost looked angry, but then he grinned as he stood before the dark-haired woman, eyes focused on her face. "Very well, then... Rayne, you and the orphans here are under house arrest until investigations can be further made into the allegations that you have been harboring Underground fugitives here."  
  
"My 'ome es alwehs op'n, *Commander*." The woman spoke carefully, although she spat out Erol's title with a certain amount of contempt. "I go' no probl'm lettin' a poor stranger stay th' night, s'long as they keep out a' me business."  
  
Wrinkling his nose in veiled disgust, Erol scoffed, turning his back on the woman. "You don't quite realize the situation you're in, do you? If you are convicted of the crimes you are accused of, you and these children could be sentenced to death."  
  
"Yeu're no' half a man!" Rayne hissed, clenching her fists tightly. "Threatenin' innocent orph'ns! Yeu're no be'er than those monsters!"  
  
She hardly had time to react before the commander grabbed her by the collar, flinging her into a nearby wall. Dazed and partially unconscious, she lay slumped there as two of the older children ran to her aid. Erol just snickered, walking outside and blocking the exits.  
  
"Burn it," he instructed one of his men, his face perfectly straight, "until it smolders. I want to hear her and those children scream for mercy before they die..."  
  
For a moment after the blaze started, Erol stood watching, his arms folded. The firelight created an eerie glow as it flickered and reflected back, dancing across his armor and the sharp, angular features of his face. As he turned, a chuckle rose in his chest... and as he hopped onto his zoomer to speed away, that chuckle turned into a roar of laughter.  
  
It was good to be evil.  
  
*****  
  
Jak was on his way back from a late mission in Haven Forest, hoping for at least a few hours of sleep, when Daxter suddenly shifted violently on his shoulder. "Jak! Jak, look! Smoke! There's a fire in the slums!"  
  
The teen blinked, looking up where his friend was pointing. Billows of smoke rose into the sky, and he could hear people shouting for help, leaping onto a zoomer as he shouted to his small friend. "C'mon, Dax... let's see what's going on."  
  
"Jak!"  
  
After a short time of driving, the familiar voice was welcome.  
  
"Torn!" Jak lept from the zoomer he was on when he spotted the Underground commander, who appeared to have been trying to find a way into the burning building. "What the hell is going on?!"  
  
The Underground leader hissed, turning back to the burning building. He was trying to hide a look of distress behind his stoic expression. "Erol torched the orphanage." He closed his eyes tightly, shaking his head. "Rayne and the kids are still inside!"  
  
Jak turned to stare at the fire licking the wood outside the broken windows. He heard the children calling out from inside, yelling for someone to help them. Frowning, he decided he couldn't just sit and let this happen. He barely heard Torn yelling for him to stop as he ran foreward, breaking through what was left of the window to the smoking hell inside.  
  
*****  
  
The interior of the orphanage was thick with black smoke, obscuring most of Jak's vision. He could hear the children, but not see them, and before he could get up, another body landed beside him. The obscured figure put a wet shirt over his head as his familiar, gravelly voice hissed, "Stop being in such a hurry to die!"  
  
Jak just grumbled, starting to crawl foreward. "Come on. Help me find them."  
  
The two moved as quickly through the building as they could. Jak's only comforts were knowing that Daxter was alive, his head turkced beneath the wet shirt and his claws digging into the teen's back, and the sounds of the children calling for help... proof that *they* were alive.  
  
Torn drew his crescent blade when they neared the door from where the noises were coming, standing long enough to hack through the weakened wood. Behind it stood gathered the soot-dirtied faces of nearly twenty children, huddled around a dazed and weary Rayne, who held to her the smallest.  
  
"Torn!" she managed to wheeze. "Jak! Oh, thank Mar yer 'ere! We've go' tae ge' th' kids out'a 'ere!"  
  
"I'll make an exit," Torn stated, moving towards a door.  
  
After watching Torn hack away at the door for a few moments, Jak turned away. His shoulder felt light. Sudden panic flew through him. "Daxter?!"  
  
The kids were already on their way out, and Torn was starting to lift Rayne, who was still groggy from being flung. The ex-KG turned briefly towards Jak then. "Come on! Let's get the hell out of here!"  
  
"I can't!" Jak retorted. "Take her to Vin! I've gotta find Daxter before this whole place goes up!"  
  
For an instant, an air of understanding passed between the two. Then, Torn nodded. "Be careful!"  
  
Jak nodded in reply, then turned and ran back into the burning orphanage.  
  
*****  
  
Vin nearly jumped out of his skin when the door to the Power Station slipped open with a loud whirring of gears, revealing Torn standing there with a cloack wrapped around him. "Vin! A little special delivery for you."  
  
The foreman let out a shaky sigh, resting one hand over his heart. "For Mar's sake, Torn! You'll give me a heart attack one of these days!" He paused briefly, pushing his goggles back to get a sharper look at Torn, wrinkling up his nose. "You smell like hickory-smoked bacon. What're you carrying?"  
  
Torn frowned, shaking the cloak off his shoulders. Rayne was limp in Torn's arms, and Vin stared in a sort of blank shock as she was carried to him. "Erol torched the orphanage." He saw the look of panic that threatened to overtake the foreman, and he shook his head. "The orphans are safe. All at various safehouses around the slums to keep them safe until we find a new place for the orphanage. As for Rayne... she needs to stay with you for a while." Carefully, he placed the orphanage matron in Vin's arms. "You're her only family. Congratulations, Vin, you're a father."  
  
"That's godfather... and that's not very funny, Torn, given the situation." An equal frown crossed Vin's face, and with a sigh, the scientist motioned for Torn to follow him. "Hurry... we can take her to my place." He briefly readjusted Rayne in his arms before gently handing her back over to Torn once the ex-KG had his cloak back on. "You'll have to carry her."  
  
It wasn't far at all too Vin's apartment... as a matter of fact, it was within walking distance, hardly a block from the power station. Since he had a very difficult job, Praxis had grudgingly given him better lodgings.  
  
"I appreciate this, Vin," Torn finally stated lowly as they slipped into the apartment as discretely as they could. "I can't keep her at the hideout. She and Kor aren't exactly the best of friends."  
  
"Don't bother thanking me. Rayne's my goddaughter, remember? Someone's gotta take care of her." Vin didn't look at Torn as he walked over to a couch, pulling out a folding bed. "You can just put her here... I'll look at her injuries in a minute."  
  
Torn took a look around as he waited for Vin to finish situating the couch-bed he was going to be placing Rayne on. "...Huh."  
  
Vin blinked, glancing at the former commander over his shoulder. "What?"  
  
"I half expected you to have the damn placed booby-trapped, paranoid as you are."  
  
Giving a scoff, Vin motioned Torn over to the bed. "I'm paranoid, but I'm not stupid. If I booby-trapped this place, I'd only end up trapping *myself*."  
  
"Good point," Torn drolled as he rested Rayne on the couch-bed, making certain she was comfortable.  
  
"I do my best," the foreman stated. There was an uncomfortable pause as Vin covered Rayne with a blanket before standing straight, turning his attention to Torn. "By the way, where's Jak? if I'm taking care of Rayne, there's a few things I need him to do for me."  
  
His words seemed to freeze Torn on the spot. "...He... shit! The orphanage! He's still in there!" His heart skipped. "Fuck! He'll die in there!" Quickly, he pulled up the hood on his cloak again. "Later, Vin! I'll send someone to help you as soon as I find Jak!"  
  
Without letting Vin reply, Torn hurried out the door.  
  
*****  
  
Torn was only halfway towards the slums when he caught sight of Tess rushing towards him, carrying something bundled in her arms.  
  
"Tess!" he called. "What're you doing here?!"  
  
"Looking for Jak," she replied. "I found Daxter by the entrance to the hideout." Frowning, she pulled back the blanket to reveal an unconscious Daxter, singed but very much alive. "He's a little burnt, but I think he's okay. Problem is, I can't find Jak anywhere." Then, she frowned. "I saw the orphanage, by the way... or what's left of it..."  
  
Torn's expression turned unusually frightened. "What's... left of it...?"  
  
Tess nodded. "The whole place fell in on itself. I hope no one was..." Her voice drifted off as Torn's expression struck her as to the severity of the situation. "No! He wasn't..."  
  
"He was looking for the furball..." Torn's voice was abnormally quiet, his icy blue eyes fixed on Daxter. "He was still inside..."  
  
*****  
  
It didn't take Torn much longer to sprint to the middle of the slums, and he stood in quiet disbelief in front of what was left of the orphanage. Whisps and tendrils of smoke continued to rise from the rubble as dying flames struggled to feed on the ash, stone, and charred wood.  
  
"...oh, god..." He stepped foreward slowly, kneeling next to the destroyed building. "...I should've come back sooner..." A piece of metal stuck from the rubble that he recognized, and he reached out slowly, picking it up in a shaking hand. The shoulderguard from Jak's get-up. "...damn..." His other hand came up to rub his temples, covering his eyes. "...what have I done?"  
  
*****  
  
He needed time. His head ached, and after sifting through the rubble, he had found nothing left of his best agent. He couldn't think of how he was going to tell the others... Jak was dead. As much as he and the boy had bickered, Torn felt him trustworthy... he was one of the few people the war-worn soldier would ever consider leaving his life in the hands of. And now this...  
  
Wearily, he ran his hand over his dreds as he trudged over the bridge to the slums. He would have kept right on walking had a groan not caught his attention. Looking down, he was stunned to discover that Jak was laying in the ditch beneath him, staring up at him through pained cobalt eyes.  
  
"Jak!" A wave of relief swept over him briefly before he smiled slowly, sitting down on the edge of the bridge. "Well, this is ironic. I spend a half hour looking for you in the rubble of that orphanage... then, I even mourned your death. And here you are, hurt but alive. Maybe I should leave you here and say I never found you."  
  
Jak's lip curled up in an angry sneer. "You wouldn't dare, you fucking *bastard*!"  
  
Torn smirked, then climbed into the ditch, pulling Jak's arm over his shoulder as he helped him stand. "Come on, asshole. Let's go get your rat."  
  
*****  
  
"So... what happened while you were in the orphanage?"  
  
Jak glanced over towards Torn from where he sat in the passenger seat of a two-seater zoomer. "Huh?"  
  
Torn rolled his eyes. "When you were in the building that happened to be burning down around you. What happened?"  
  
"I happened to see Daxter run out," Jak responded. "On my way, I saw something else, and I grabbed it and ran." He shrugged slightly. "I must've just breathed in too much smoke, and so I passed out in the ditch."  
  
Slowly, Torn gave a slight, but wry, grin. "And you look like a roasted turken. It's a good look for you, Jak... no, really, it is."  
  
Jak growled at him. "Could you stop being an ass, just for... I don't know... five minutes?"  
  
In response, the Underground commander shook his head. "No can do. Besides, I thought you *liked* my "charming sense of humor"."  
  
"Bite me."  
  
"Ladies first."  
  
*****  
  
The room seemed far too dark to Rayne when she started waking up, rolling onto her side, trying to figure out where she was. She heard voices, but couldn't make them out, until one of them broke from the conversation. "Oh, Vin, she's waking up!" Whoever it was moved to sit on the bedside, lightly patting her cheek. "Rayne? Rayne, can you hear me? It's me... Tess!"  
  
Rayne blinked a few more times to adjust her vision, and once the spots had cleared and the blurriness was gone, she found herself facing Tess, whose expression quickly went from concern to relief. "Oh, there we go! Vin was beside himself, he was so worried!"  
  
"I was not!" A sigh came from Vin as he walked over to where Tess sat, folding his arms tightly over his chest. "It's good that you're awake, though. You weren't out as long as I thought you would be. It's only been a few hours since the orphanage--..."  
  
The woman's eyes went wide. "Th' orphanage! Oh, merciful Mar! Are th' children all righ'?! They got out safely, di'n't they? An' Torn an' Jak?!"  
  
When she got no response from either of the two, her heart dropped. She saw Daxter at the foot of the couch bed, curled up tight as he could, awake but not speaking. Tess fidgetted, tucking her hair behind her ear three times before she finally managed a soft sigh. "The orphans got out fine... and, well... Torn's okay, but Jak... he's..."  
  
"Alive and kicking."  
  
The voice from the door startled all four of the people in the room to awareness. Daxter was the first up, darting to Jak's shoulder as he playfully punched his friend's jaw with a tiny hand. "I knew a little fire couldn't keep ya down, Jak! Good thing you got out safe! That woulda been real cruel'a you, dyin' after I spent two years finding your sorry ass!"  
  
Jak snorted softly, nudging Daxter with one hand. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Dax. It's good to see you, too."  
  
Behind him, Torn let out a quiet scoff. "I found him in a ditch near the hideout. I can only guess he was going to see if Daxter had gone there. He's alive, though... I guess we should be grateful."  
  
"Yeu dinnae hafte stay en th' orphanage sae long, Jak," Rayne murmured once the room had quieted. "The children were safe..."  
  
The teen shrugged. "I had to find Daxter. Glad to see he got out safe. Oh, and I found this, too. Thought you might want it."  
  
He passed to her a singed picture, and Vin's brow went up when he looked over her shoulder at the photograph held in her shaking hands. "It's your wedding picture."  
  
After a quiet moment, Rayne looked up at the boy, smiling as she clutched the picture. "Yeu're a blessin' en disguise, Jak. Yeu'll save thes city... I know et. Yeu jes' watch."  
  
This time, Torn rolled his eyes, purposefully shoving Jak with his shoulder as he brushed past. "Hmph. He's just a brat."  
  
"I think Torn's a little jealous of the attention Jak's getting," Tess giggled with a broad grin.  
  
"Hey, shut up!"  
  
Those gathered in the room dissolved into a short bit of laughter at Torn's expense, and though the ex-KG looked somewhat insulted, he couldn't help but feel a little bit better that things had, in the end, worked out. At least, for now.  
  
While the others continued talking, he made his way towards the window, gazing out at the people passing as the rain began to make its descent to the dirty streets below.  
  
*****  
  
"The plan went off flawlesly, Baron Praxis," Erol stated curtly, watching the city ruler with a straight face. He stood in conference with the man now, no more than ten paces from a straight-faced woman he preferred to avoid, who also stood facing their leader. "We were able to gain a good deal of information without them even noticing."  
  
Baron Praxis gave a slight nod, his back still to the two figures in his presence as he watched the rain pelt the window in front of him. "Very good. Continue as planned, Commander. You are dismissed."  
  
Erol gave a nod, then turned on his heel and stalked out. The woman watched him exit with a frown before turning her attention back to the city's ruler. "Are you sure that was wise? Letting him act with so much free reign?"  
  
The words made Praxis turn, his attention focusing on his rigid advisor. "The commander is quite skilled, Lesca. I trust him well enough." His good brow lifted. "Do you not trust *my* judgement?"  
  
As he sat behind his desk, Lesca shook her head, walking over to stand at his side. "I trust you with my life, sir." Her hand rested lightly on his shoulder. "I would follow you to the edge of this world... and beyond even that, if you asked me."  
  
"Your loyalty could be your downfall someday, but it is commendable nonetheless." The baron steepled his fingers, suddenly appearing deeply contemplative. "I believe your unique skills may come in handy. Meet with our spy... gather what information you can. You know what to do if he fails you."  
  
Slowly, a dark smile crossed Lesca's face. "Of course, Baron Praxis. Your wish... is my command..."  
  
~=~End~=~  
  
{/They called her the Widowmaker, and it was easy to see why. Lesca, former commander of the Krimzon Guard and now secretary and personal advisor to Baron Praxis, is a dangerous woman. Anyone who knows anything about her knows to steer well clear of her. And she has a personal vendetta against Torn...  
  
Now, Jak is in a race against time to save the Underground commander from a deadly poison, but can he find the man who has it in time...?  
  
Next Chapter: "Tangled Web"/} 


	2. Tangled Web

{/Today's author's note is a MAJOR one. Don't be too shocked at an OFFICIAL KG walking into the Underground hideout here, because I'm still of the strict belief that Torn was the spy Erol was referring to in the scene at the end of Act 1 in the game. I only send Lesca instead of Erol because I fear the brawl(coughcough) that might break out. ~_~  
  
I warn you now, this chapter contains some serious TornxAshelin fluff. Nothing like a good near-death experience to bring a couple closer.  
  
Another character introduced here... she's one of the last two. Dharma the KG medic.  
  
Also a quick note before anyone jumps to conclusions... none of the OCs that show up in this series end up with any canon characters. If they don't have a significant other that's mentioned, they don't have one. This is just a series that deals with a series of people that Jak meets, good or bad, that help shape the war in some way.  
  
My thanks go out to KayceeRonin - mah muse forever (and my main beta reader) ^^, and to Total-Jewel and JakIIFan on DA, for reading this over for me. This isn't the TOTAL finalized version of this, but as I'm sure some people are chomping at the bit, I got this up. This is the second-to-last draft. :P Much love to the Sad Droid, who is also checking this for errors. ^^  
  
OOC-issues will be dealt with in the final edit./}  
  
~=~Tangled Web~=~  
  
"There, Rayne. That's all Ashelin's found so far. That should suffice."  
  
The woman smiled sadly in response to Torn's words, holding the folder in her slim hands like a lifeline. "Jes' knowin' 'e's alive, Torn, es enough tae keep me 'appy fer a lifetime. Thank th' dear girl for me. I appreciate et."  
  
Torn shrugged, reaching for a stack of papers. "Whatever. Just stay out of trouble."  
  
Rayne rolled her eyes, then patted his arm gently. "Don' worry tae much about all thes. I'm glad tae know Mihk's alive."  
  
She said not another word. Giving another smile towards the ex-KG, she bounced out of the hideout and back to the orphanage.  
  
It had been no more than fifteen minutes after she had left that the door to the Underground slid open again. Torn's brow ticked... those steps were too light to be Jak's, so what was Rayne doing back?  
  
He lifted his head to growl out the question when he realized that the person in question was not Rayne at all. It was a very different figure that greeted him there. Her face set in a harsh glare, emotionless blue eyes dark and empty, full lips drawn into a thin line. Tattoos like the legs of a spider danced down her cheeks, the hourglass that marked the Widow herself resting in the center of her forehead. "Hello, Torn. It's been a while."  
  
Instantly, the Underground commander was up in arms, reaching to grab his dagger. "What the fuck are you doing here, Lesca?!"  
  
"I am simply here to strike a bargain with you," the woman replied in a cool tone, eyes never leaving his face. She matched his glare with one of her own, carefully veiled in a fashion that made *him* look away. "Unless, of course, you would not mind sending Ashelin to her death."  
  
Torn winced as the baron's advisor spoke, emphasising Ashelin's name in a way that made him sick. "You leave her out of this."  
  
Lesca's brow raised, but only slightly. "Oh? And why should I? You would not be nearly so complacent if she was not around." Her lips curled into a cruel smile, mocking the ache he suddenly felt in his chest. "Or do you not call what you do with her on those lonely nights 'making love'?"  
  
"Either get to the point or get the hell out." Torn could barely raise his voice. She kept the one thing he cared about in the guard held over his head like a toy, and he knew she could milk that for all it was worth. "What do you want from me?"  
  
"What I want," the retired KG commander replied, "is Jak. I want you to tell me where he is and what he is up to."  
  
Torn's eyes narrowed. "And if I don't?"  
  
"Ashelin dies."  
  
Once again, Torn shuddered. His eyes fell to the table in front of him... Jak was meeting Vin on a mission right now. He didn't want Ashelin to die, but while Jak could take care of himself, he didn't want the foreman dragged into this... he had enough problems. An idea started to formulate in his head, so finally, he nodded, reaching for a map. "Fine..."  
  
Lesca nodded as she moved foreward to watch him pinpoint the spot... it was going to be a good day after all.  
  
*****  
  
"According to Torn, Jak is going to be raiding an ammo supply store near the edge of the industrial sector here." The woman lifted her hand to point at the map that lay on the table between she and Erol. When the commander didn't seem to be listening, she growled. "Commander, it may sound most unusual to you, but I do believe this involves you. Therefore, I suggest you listen before you make me angry."  
  
Erol sneered at her, leaning foreward with his palms pressed flat against the tabletop. "Lesca, I am not afraid of you. You've no more power than I do, and need I remind you that your legs are not what they used to be?"  
  
In response, the woman gave a disdainful scoff. "Stop trying to throw your power around, Erol. I'm still capable of combat, and on such a cool day as today, my legs won't lock up to give you the advantage you would wish you had." She snarled, looking down at the map. "This is the ammo supply station. Take out that little bastard... I don't want to hear in the morning that he miraculously survived!"  
  
The racer practically hissed at Lesca as he sneered, "Of *course*, Lesca. Right away."  
  
He spun on a dime, stalking out of the room as the retired guard glared at his retreating form, her gaze burning into the door even after he had left. Once he did, her legs gave beneath her, the ache of an old wound forcing her to sit in the chair she had left in an earlier argument with Erol when he had first arrived. "...I truly hate that man."  
  
*****  
  
"Vin, here's the eco you wanted delivered!"  
  
Jak didn't even get time to start his usual countdown before he heard a shout, a woosh, and a thunk. What followed was a series of mumbled words and grumbling before the lift Vin used to get to the higher monitors came back down into view, and the foreman was seen standing there, rubbing the top of his head painfully. "Don't DO that!"  
  
Seeing the poor man's state, Daxter snickered, crouching on Jak's shoulder. "He barely even said anything, Vin. You sure you're okay in here?"  
  
The older man shuddered, one ear twitching almost non-stop for a moment as a thought ran through his brain faster than the other two could probably fathom. Then, he seemed to deflate, resting his hand against his forehead as he sighed. "Things are just getting worse, that's all. Thanks for getting the eco, boys. You know I can't go back to the strip mine again..."  
  
Jak shook his head, folding his arms. "Torn hasn't had anything for me to do lately, so I was kind of grateful for the break. It wasn't much of a problem."  
  
To this, Daxter grumbled, recalling the waves of Metal Heads that had come at them while they were trying to retrieve the spazzy scientist's eco shipment from the strip mine. He flopped across Jak's shoulder, muttering, "Yeah, yeah... no problem at all."  
  
"You guys look kinda tired. You should ask Torn if you can take a break or something." When Jak gave him a rather incredulous look, Vin shook his head. "Nono, I'm serious. He's not that bad'a guy. You've just gotta catch him at the right time."  
  
Raising his brow, Jak snickered, shaking his head as he folded his arms. "Right... if you say so, Vin." The boy turned, heading for the exit. "We'll see you around, Vin. Things to do, y'know."  
  
"Be careful," Vin admonished as he turned back to his work. "I don't wanna hear that you boys got caught!"  
  
*****  
  
Erol always enjoyed a good hunt, and today was no exception. He was pleased to see the ammo stockpile ahead of him, but his good mood was about to change for the worse. As the transport drew to a stop and he jumped out, he glanced around. The place was silent as the grave, save for the occasional shift of armor from the two guards that stood watch.  
  
The racer spun on them almost instantly. "Has anything happened here?"  
  
Instantly, the pair saluted. "No, sir," one answered. "It's been quiet for days."  
  
Erol's brow twitched. "No sign of any disturbances?"  
  
"Not a one, sir," replied the other. "There's nothing on the scanners, either. Nobody's come near this place at all. Not for months."  
  
For a moment, Erol just stood silently, the information running through his head rapidly. Then, almost instantly, he growled, spinning to climb back onto the transport. He had a bone to pick with the baron's advisor...  
  
*****  
  
The door to Lesca's office slammed open with such force that it made even the stoic woman jump, her dark blue eyes lifting to the advancing form of Erol, whose face was twisted in an angry snarl. Lesca sighed as she sat down her pen, standing up as she pushed the Lurker slave that stood as her handmaid to one side. "What do you want, commander?"  
  
"I want to know why the hell you gave me incorrect information!" he roared back at her, fists clenched at his sides. He knew he was intimidating her about as much as she did him, but yelling certainly made *him* feel better. "There was no one at that ammo supplier! The guards stationed there said it had been quiet for months!"  
  
It seemed, in that moment, that the temperature of the room dropped a full fifty degrees as Lesca's eyes narrowed. "...That wretch was lying. What a clever ruse." Her fist clenched. "You know what to do, commander..."  
  
Erol frowned as he folded his arms, the muscles in his arms tense. "What would *that* be?"  
  
The woman spun, and the sudden intensity of both expression and voice that she displayed startled him into retreating a few steps. "KILL him!" she shouted. "By Baron Praxis' orders, if he failed us, he was to *die*. I've a meeting with that crazy old man in the power station today... let's have this finished before I have to do that, hm?"  
  
Finally, Erol smiled, standing straight before bowing slightly. His eyes never left her face. "For once, Lesca, we're seeing eye-to-eye. I'll see Dradius... I'm certain he'll know the perfect way to rid us of this nuisance."  
  
As he made his exit, Lesca stalked back to her desk. Her head throbbed, and now, her back and legs were beginning to ache. She glared at the staring eyes of the Lurker for a moment before she reeled on it, hitting it hard in the side of the head. The creature recoiled with a yelp, cowering before its master as the woman hissed, "Back to work! I have a headache. Go to the infirmary and get me something for it... NOW."  
  
The Lurker did not wait to question Lesca's authority. It ducked its head and quickly ran out of the room.  
  
*****  
  
He hated slow days. He hated slow days almost as much as he hated dealing with people. And where was Ashelin? Wasn't he supposed to meet with her today?  
  
Why wasn't Jak back from dealing with Vin yet?  
  
Torn had yet to notice the sudden change in the fires that burned around the chilly room... the way they flicked and whispered at some new thing that hung in the air around him.  
  
He didn't notice, at first, the change of his breathing or the scent that hung. The air did feel heavy around him, though... He began to get light-headed and dizzy, and for some reason, every breath he took felt heavier and heavier as well. Through his suddenly blurry vision, he realized that there was a strange haze hanging in the air.  
  
Poison?!  
  
Choking suddenly, he staggered towards the steps, falling hard, hand stretched in front of him, just inches from salvation. The door into the main hideout slid closed, the one in front of him not opening. Torn, however, saw and heard nothing. All he felt was the numbing descent into blackness.  
  
*****  
  
Jak had no idea what awaited him at the hideout as he returned from a pit-stop he had made. He hadn't visited Rayne and the orphans in their new location yet, and the kids were all quite happy to see him and Daxter. He had shared some lunch with the woman, then made his way back to the dingy hole in the back of the slums.  
  
As the door slid open to the Underground hideout, Jak wrinkled his nose. "Ugh! What's that awful smell?"  
  
Daxter sniffed the air in response to that, then gasped, diving beneath Jak's hair. "Watch out, Jak, it's poison!"  
  
Jak blanched, pulling his bandana over his mouth and nose, ignoring the fact that Daxter was using part of it for the same purpose, before heading down the stairs. What met his eyes was the sight of Torn, laying lifeless on the steps. "Torn!"  
  
Instantly, he bolted to Torn's aid, pressing his fingers to the side of the ex-KG's throat. Daxter swallowed hard, and Jak could feel his hands and paws tighten their hold. "Is... is he...?"  
  
"No... he's alive," Jak responded quietly. "Talk about luck."  
  
Carefully, he pulled the taller man into his arms, standing up while rebalancing the weight. Daxter frowned as he resumed his perch when they exited the hideout stairwell. "What're we gonna do with him?"  
  
Jak looked contemplative at this before his eyes fell on Torn's face. "We'll take him to Vin. Maybe he'll know what to do."  
  
*****  
  
Vin was at his apartment when Jak arrived. The boy had only found this out through a good deal of questioning, and he startled Vin when he burst into the room. "Vin! We need your help!"  
  
The power station foreman nearly jumped out of his boots, clasping his hand over his heart. "Oh, god... you guys have to stop doing tha--... what happened?!"  
  
"Torn got himself a couple lungs fulla poison," Daxter replied lightly, watching the form of the man in Jak's arms. "We thought maybe you could help."  
  
Vin rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he moved foreward, pressing his other hand against Torn's forehead. "Well, I only know so much about poisons, but I'll see what I ca--..." A knock at the door interrupted him, and almost instantly, he blanched. "Oh, no! That must be Lesca..."  
  
Jak's brow went up as he tilted his head to one side. "Lesca...?"  
  
"She's the baron's personal advisor," Vin groaned, glancing to the door. "She was in command of the Krimzon Guard when Praxis led his assault on the Metal Head nest twelve years ago... she was one of the three survivors. Praxis, Lesca, and a man who died two weeks later of his wounds." Quickly, he ran to a closet, flinging open the door as the knock at the door came again. "Hurry, in here, and stay quiet! I'll keep her occupied!"  
  
Jak ducked low in the small closet as the door closed, holding Torn's shaking body to him as carefully as he could. Daxter clutched his shoulder tightly, pressed as closely against his neck as he could get. They could hear the door open and close, and the greetings pass. Jak was tense and he knew it... this woman was dangerous, and if she found out he, Daxter, and Torn were there, it would be the end of all of them... even Vin. So they sat in silence, hoping the soft, pained groans from the poisoned ex-KG weren't heard, and hoping Vin could handle this on his own...  
  
In the main area of the small apartment, Vin was exchanging uneasy pleasantries with the baron's advisor. "I'm s-sorry for th... the state of this p-place, Miss Lesca... I sh... I should have suggested a more... convenient me-..."  
  
"Oh, please, foreman... this is a fine a meeting place as any. Your apartment is immaculate... I really wouldn't have expected it," the woman replied. Then, she turned to Vin, a disarmingly pleasant smile on her face. "But enough with the pleasantries. My meeting with you is strictly business. Baron Praxis is most pleased with the work you do at the power station, but there have been... *rumors* circulating."  
  
Vin swallowed. That didn't sound good. "R--... rumors, Miss Lesca...?"  
  
There was a pause as Lesca pondered, turning away from him... perhaps debating what to say. Then, she turned to him. Her face was deathly serious and her tone was dark. "Rumors that you have been aiding the Underground movement. Such actions are considered treason against the baron, foreman... are you aware of this?"  
  
"Everyone is," Vin replied softly. He couldn't hide the terror in his voice... but Vin was a jumpy man. He only hoped that she suspected only that. "I'd be a fool to do something like that. My job is to run the power station... I keep the shield walls up. It's an honor to do that for Baron Praxis..."  
  
Lesca raised her brow slightly. "Is that so?" She turned away just slightly for a moment, but in the blink of an eye she spun back, grabbing the scientist by the collar with such a grip that he felt as if he was choking. Eye-to-eye with Vin now, she hissed, "Now... you listen to me. Others may believe your blubbering cowardice, but I don't. Guilty until proven innocent, I like to say... If you are in any way helping that rebel slime, I'll find out. And when I do, you'll have far greater worries than a Metal head gutting your sorry excuse for a body!" She shoved him back. Frightened and lacking much grace, Vin toppled over, staring in fear up at the woman. "Have a pleasant day... foreman."  
  
The woman walked out as Vin let out a heavy, shaking sigh. His hand went to his throat almost by instinct... that had been a close one. Trembling from head to toe, he staggered to his feet, moving over to the closet. Before he could get there, Jak opened the door, staring at the foreman worriedly. "Vin! Are you okay?!"  
  
"Yeah..." Daxter chimed in. "That bitch really had it in for you!"  
  
"I'm okay," Vin replied, resting his hand against his forehead. "I'm fine. Just... it's not safe for you two here. I'm on shaky ground as it is, and if they send KGs to search the place and you guys are found..."  
  
Jak frowned, looking down to where Torn lay still against him. "...You're right."  
  
Shaking his head slightly, Vin went to get a wet rag to lay against Torn's forehead. "I'm really sorry, Jak. I'd do more if I could, but..."  
  
To this, Jak shook his head, standing with Torn carried as well as he could. "Don't apologize, Vin, it's not your fault. I shouldn't have come here in the first place... any suggestions on anywhere else I can head?"  
  
"Well..." Vin sighed, looking thoughtful as he walked back over to the pair, placing the rag on Torn's forehead. "You've been to Rayne's new orphanage, right? It's closer to the hideout, and the KG don't bother with the place it's in. He'd be safer there. I'll get ahold of Ashelin and tell her what happened."  
  
Jak nodded slightly, readjusting how he held Torn, who shifted and groaned in pain. "Thanks, Vin. I'll do that."  
  
Daxter muttered, crouching low on Jak's shoulder. "Great... more dealin' with ear-biting, tail-pullin' orphans."  
  
The foreman ignored Daxter with some effort, and nodded slightly to Jak. "Don't worry too much about it, Jak... just be careful! With Lesca this riled up and someone probably realizing the poison didn't work, the guard's gonna be on high alert!"  
  
Once again, Jak gave a nod. He then pulled the cloak he'd brought up over Torn and headed out into the city.  
  
*****  
  
The city had quieted for the most part as Jak drove through the streets, glancing every now and again at Torn's form, wrapped in the cloak he always used to move around outside the hideout with. His breathing was shaking and uneasy, making Jak wonder how long he was going to hold on. Daxter frowned lightly, slipping under Jak's chin to move to his other shoulder. "He's breathing slower, Jak..."  
  
"Shut up, Daxter! He's not going to die!" Jak hissed in return. "There's the orphanage up ahead."  
  
Daxter yelped slightly as Jak spun the Zoomer to a stop, jumping out and lifting Torn gently in his arms. Walking to the door, he knocked with his foot. The door was opened by Lian, who blinked in surprise at the sight of Torn. "That's Torn, isn't it?" he asked. "Is he dead?"  
  
Jak shook his head to the boy. "No, he's not... but he needs help. Get Rayne, would you, Lian? She's the only person I know who might be able to do something."  
  
The boy stared for a moment longer before he took off through the orphanage, dodging around his little 'brothers' and 'sisters' as he shouted for the orphanage matron. Soon after, the woman whisked out, wiping her hands with a towel. "Whot's th' trouble, comin' en 'ere at all hours an'..." She gasped, running foreward to look closely at Torn, pressing her small hands against his face. "Oh, 'e's freezin'! Whot 'appened tae 'im?!"  
  
"He was poisoned," Jak responded lowly. "Can you do anything for him?"  
  
Rayne frowned as she checked the ex-KG's eyes, pressing her fingertips against his forehead. "Oh, 'e's clammy as c'n be... 'is eyes're dialated. Oh, Jak, I don' know 'ow long 'e c'n las'..."  
  
Daxter shivered, his fur standing on end. "You mean... you mean he's dyin'?"  
  
The woman shook her head gently, quickly rushing to a cot in the corner to prepare it. "'ere, 'ere... put 'im 'ere..." She sighed softly, glancing up to the pair as Jak laid Torn down on the cot. "I don' know, Daxter, ef 'e's dyin' 'er no'... bu'... 'e's en a bad way..."  
  
Jak looked down at the floor, listening to Rayne talk. "...Is there anything we can do...?"  
  
"Ash'lin'll be be'er tae tell ye tha'. I'm afraid we can' say much till there." She shook her head, moving to get a bowl with water and a cloth. "'e's fadin', though. T'ain' much ligh' en es eyes."  
  
Daxter raised his brow, his ears flicking foreward. "Torn? Light in his eyes? You crazy, lady?"  
  
In reply, Rayne just sat down the bowl, soaking the rag and pressing it against Torn's cheeks. "Ev'ryone's go' ligh' en their eyes, dear'eart... ev'n Torn. When et star's tae fade, ye know they're no' long fer thes worl'." She paused, spinning on both of them. "No' a word'a thes tae th' others."  
  
She couldn't have timed her statement better. At that moment, the door slipped open. "Vin contacted me and told me something was going on down here. What did I miss?"  
  
Jak turned slightly to glance at the figure in the door as Ashelin glanced at him, trying to get a glimpse of the bed behind them. Daxter turned on Jak's shoulder, moving to his other shoulder, smiling nervously. "Hiya, Red. Uh... how's pickin's?"  
  
"Not good, apparently," Ashelin replied flatly. "What happened to Torn?"  
  
Jak folded his arms slightly, shaking his head. "Poison. Rayne says you might know someone who can help."  
  
The woman paused, looking as if she really had no idea what to say for a moment, before she reached for the communicator on her belt. "One of Torn's informants might be able to help him... I'll get ahold of her. She'll meet you at the coordinates I send to you."  
  
The boy nodded as he watched her talk. Her movements were forced, and she paced back and forth as she spoke. Jak couldn't make out the voice on the other side of the communicator, but the voice sounded female and young. Finally, Ashelin hooked the communicator back on her belt, turning to Jak as he questioned, "Well?"  
  
"I'll send you the coordinates while you're on your way," the red-head replied. "She'll tell you what you need to know."  
  
*****  
  
Jak didn't like the set-up when he entered the old building, watching carefully for any movement around him. He jumped when he heard a voice from the shadows... light and cricky, like a child. "So... you're Jak, huh?" Light played on the face of the figure as it emerged from the shadow, revealing a petite girl with short, tawny hair, Krimzon Guard tattoos marking her light skin. "Ashelin didn't tell me you were so short. So... what'd ol' bitchy-britches get himself into this time?"  
  
The boy wasted no time drawing his gun, the beam of the blaster mod focused directly between the girl's eyes, his eyes narrowed at her. "Okay, KG bitch... what the fuck are you doing here?"  
  
Surprised, the girl jumped, holding up her hands in mock self-defense. "Whoa, whoa, *easy* there, tigorilla!" she cried. "My name's Dharma. I might be a medic in the Krimzon Guard, but I got there as a spy for the Underground!"  
  
Jak growled, not moving the gun. "How do I know I can trust you?"  
  
"I'm not asking you to trust me," Dharma replied with a frown, "but you need my help if you're going to save Torn. Ashelin contacted me again while you were on your way here and told me the symptoms. Dialated pupils, clammy skin, shallow and uneven breathing, siezures, muscle spasms. He seems to be in pain, but has no audible way of expressing it. Throat is constricted - more-so than from his usual injury. Interior of mouth seems to be dry and whitened. Skin is cold to the touch, but he is sweating as if he's running a fever. If it wasn't for the last bit or the shallow breathing, I'd suspect it to be ybardom, but all of those combined could only be oenone." She grinned at the startled expression Jak had. "You see, there's a man in the Krimzon Guard fortress that manufactures both of those poisons. His name is Dradius. See, if he'd used ybardom, Torn would be dead already. Oenone's effects are not immediate, but they are fatal. Torn took in enough to kill him, I think, but the effects will be slow." She glanced out the window. "Deadly... but slow."  
  
The reaction wasn't instant, but Jak was certainly impressed. "How... do you know all this?"  
  
The girl shook her head, resting her hands on her hips. "I'm a medic, remember? It's my business to know these sorts of things." She looked straight into his face then, her eyes narrowed. "You listen to me. Dradius knows his stuff, and any man worth his salt in the guard knows to steer clear of him... he's crazy. His specialty is biological warfare. Even if you did find him, it'd be suicide to challenge him." Her brow went up. "You sure you wanna take him?"  
  
"I have to find him to get the antidote for Torn, right?" The reply he got was a nod. Jak's eyes narrowed. "Then I'll take him. I won't let him die like this. He might be an asshole, but he's a good man."  
  
To that, the little girl smiled brightly. "You're a good man, Jak. Go to the fortress... lowest level. Dradius is in a room marked with a biohazard symbol in the very back." She rested her hand on his shoulder, her face fading into worry. "He'll use ybardom. It works almost instantaneously, so keep.your mouth.and nose.covered."  
  
Daxter stared at her in shock. "Then... what about me?"  
  
"It might be best if you stay with the orphans, Dax," Jak murmured lightly. "I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you."  
  
The ottsel snorted, folding his arms as he hopped to Dharma's shoulder. "Hmph. Says the guy who got me turned into an ottsel."  
  
Jak rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'm still lamenting that one." He looked at Dharma seriously. "You take care of Dax... okay?"  
  
"He'll be fine," Dharma promised. "I'll do what I can for Torn. Precursors protect you, Jak. You'll get through this alive."  
  
*****  
  
"How's Torn doing?"  
  
Rayne glanced back at Dharma, interrupted from speaking softly to Ashelin as she herself gently patted Torn's face with a damp cloth. "'e's no' doin' sae well, dear'eart... 'e's fadin'... 'e's sae tired..."  
  
Dharma frowned at that, moving foreward to check the man as Daxter spoke from her shoulder. "Jak's gone ta find the antidote."  
  
"He'll never get past Dradius..." was Ashelin's quiet response. "He'll walk right into his own death."  
  
"Don't talk like that, Ash. Jak'll get outta this alive, and he'll save Torn." Dharma smiled as she took over what Rayne was doing. "You'll see."  
  
Rayne nodded in agreement, standing to wade through a sea of curious children to get to her shambly wood-burning stove. "Dharma's righ'. We've jes' go' tae be patient." She smiled softly, putting on a kettle of water to boil. "I'll make us a spo' of tea. Et's no good tae worry an' fret o'er somethin' we cannae change ye'."  
  
The other three nodded their quiet agreement as Dharma continued to keep an eye on Torn. Now, all they had to wait for was Jak.  
  
*****  
  
Jak himself was in nearly over his head as he slunk about the Krimzon Guard fortress. The guards were running constant patrols, and he could barely get through a corridor without having to duck into a place to hide.  
  
He wasn't happy with the way this was turning out.  
  
Daxter was with that Dharma girl, but how could he know that he could trust her?  
  
Torn was with Rayne, but Ashelin was with Torn, and he didn't know if she could handle seeing Torn so close to death, despite how strong-willed she was.  
  
Then, there was Vin. What if that Lesca woman made good on her threat?  
  
He almost started to move foreward again when he felt the cold barrel of a gun against the back of his neck as a voice growled, "Don't move, kid."  
  
An elite guard loomed over him from behind, and Jak cursed under his breath. He should've been paying more attention to what he was doing...  
  
"Bad move," he hissed at the guard. Instantly, he spun on him, firing three shots from the blaster mod right into the eyepiece of the guard's armor. He fell without a sound, but the sudden assault on the triggered armor alerted all the other guards in the area. Now, Jak had gone from a simple search and recover to an all-out battlefield. Slowly, a grin slipped over his face. "Now, this is more like it!"  
  
*****  
  
"Dharma, tell me." The petite medic was startled out of her thoughts, wondering how Jak was and whether or not he'd survive the onslaught of the fortress, by the sound of Rayne's soft voice. "Deu ye know th' myth'a th' lovebird?"  
  
The question was unusual to Dharma and she tilted her head to the side, looking at the woman who she was helping to find some clean rags. "...No... why do you ask?"  
  
Rayne just nodded towards the other room. "They say lovebirds live t'gether b'cause they need one another. They mate fer life, an' are deeply attached tae th' other. Me mother alwehs used tae tell me tha' when a lovebird dies, ets mate'll go entae deep sadness an' ferget how tae live. Et'll lose sae much hope, et'll die."  
  
Suddenly, the story she was telling started to sink in. Rayne wasn't talking about lovebirds at all... was she? Panicked, Dharma grabbed her friend's arm as Daxter, still perched on her shoulder, cried, "You don't mean to tell me that...!"  
  
"The song of a lovebird whose mate's en pain es beautiful. Can'che 'ear 'er singin'? Jes' b'cause she's no' really makin' a tune doesn' mean she's no'." She sighed softly. "Th' onleh reason I'm no' mournin' like 'er es b'cause my Mihk migh' still be alive."  
  
Dharma frowned, leaning against the doorframe as she listened to Ashelin speak to Torn, waiting with baited breath for him to respond.  
  
"Hey, baby..." The woman kept her voice low. She and Torn never spoke affectionately when others could hear. It was like an unspoken agreement between them. "God, you're a wreck." Gently, she wiped the damp cloth in her hand across his forehead. "Bet you'd never expect this, hm? Me taking care of you instead of the other way around. Dharma says you're stable, so I guess that's good..." She lowered her head for a moment, then continued speaking. "I just keep waiting for you to open your eyes and say, "Ashelin, why are you crying? You're being stupid, I'm just fine." And I'd just laugh... after all, I knew all along you'd be fine, right?"  
  
Dharma had to look away, her frown deepening. Torn and Ashelin were both her friends... she hated seeing them like this.  
  
It was the shout from the other room that made her jump.  
  
"Dharma!" That was Ashelin, and this time, she sounded distressed. The girl's medical mind instantly took over and she spun, running back over to the bed. Torn's face was twisted in pain, and his whole body spasmed with a sudden intensity that caused the cot he lay on to shake. "What... what's going on, what's wrong with him...?"  
  
"Shit," Dharma cursed. "Rayne, get the kids out of here!"  
  
The orphanage matron nodded, turning to Lian as Dharma started to work, quick reflexes allowing her to avoid if Torn's hand flew up. Ashelin looked at her again. "Dharma... Dharma, tell me what's going on!"  
  
For a moment, the girl didn't answer. Then, she spoke softly, not facing Ashelin... she was still trying to stablize Torn. "He's having a seizure. This is different, though..." She stiffened, her jaw clenching. "...they more often call this a death throe."  
  
Ashelin stared at her in shock, and she would have come foreward to argue that diagnosis had Rayne not come up from behind her, gently grasping her friend's arms. "No... no, he's not dying!"  
  
"Shh, Ash'lin... calm down, dear'eart... keep yer 'ead on straigh'!" She kept a tight hold on the struggling woman, murmuring quietly to her. "There's nothin' yeu c'n deu fer 'im ef ye get yerself 'urt like thes!"  
  
Though Ashelin didn't stop struggling entirely, she did settle some, her wide green eyes fixed on Torn's face. "...He can't die... he can't..."  
  
The seconds passed like hours, and soon, Dharma stood straight, wiping her forehead. "Good news, girls... he's not dead. It took me some doing, but he's stable again... for now." She sighed as she watched Ashelin slump in Rayne's grip, her hand lifted to her face to hide tears she felt would make her look less of a woman. "Jak has to hurry, though... at the rate he's going, Torn won't last the night!"  
  
*****  
  
At the same time that Dharma was working rapidly to keep Torn alive, Jak was making his way through the KG fortress. He had left in his wake wave after wave of Krimzon Guards, all now dead or dying. Not that he particularly cared. He had bigger fish to fry.  
  
There at the end of the hall, he could see the room he wanted. As he approached, he pulled his bandana up over his mouth and nose... he knew very well that if he walked in there right now, he could die.  
  
That, however, was not the point at all anymore. Now, he had a mission, and he treated it as such. Without a word, he pushed open the door. Before him stood a man leaned over many beakers, and soon, those crazed eyes shot to him. "Oh... oh! Jak! Jak, Jak, Jak... how long has it been, hm? Don't you remember me? I helped Baron Praxis perform those lovely tests on you!" Jak gritted his teeth, his whole form tensing as the words flowed out of the thin man's mouth. "Oh, don't give me that look. You became stronger, didn't you? Stronger and more powerful, yes!"  
  
Jak growled, barely able to move, his muscles were so tight. "You're Dradius, right?"  
  
"Dradius I am, my dear boy," replied the other, giving an unnecessarily flashy bow. "Tell me... how are you doing under the eco treatments? Good, I hope?"  
  
"Oh, yeah." Jak's voice was a low, rumbling growl. "Just peachy. But I'm not here to banter about old times, pal. I want the antidote to the oenone poison."  
  
To that, Dradius started to grin slowly, twisting into a sadistic form on his thin face. "Ah... the antidote to the poison Commander Erol thought suiting for that traitor, Torn. Sorry, my boy. I'm afraid I can't give it to you. You see, you would use it to save Torn's life... and I can't have that."  
  
Jak smirked as he spoke, folding his arms. "And who said I was expecting you to give it to me? I'm here to take that antidote. And if I have to take it by force, then that's the way it's gonna be."  
  
The expression on the other man's face turned to a demented rage almost instantly, and Jak barely missed a beaker flying at his head. "You don't know who you're dealing with, Jak! I'm the greatest scientific mind this world has ever seen! I am unstoppable!"  
  
Jak dodged out of the way of the beaker. He noticed a mist rise from it when it shattered against the wall nearby... definitely poison.  
  
He was treading on very uneasy ground. He would have to watch his step... one false move and he wouldn't be doing anyone any good.  
  
He couldn't get close to this guy... could he? What could he use to...?  
  
That was it!  
  
The next vial that came flying at his head, Jak didn't dodge. He brought up his hand to block it, and the impact shattered it against his glove.  
  
This was a long-shot, and a dangerous risk. If just a slight bit of that poison slipped past his bandana, he was done for.  
  
But he had to try something.  
  
Suddenly, he choked. His hand flew to his throat, and he spasmed once. Dradius watched with a devilish grin as slowly, the great Jak crumpled to the floor, his body jerking once more before he fell still.  
  
"I won..." Dradius stated lightly. Then, he began to cackle. "I won! You thought you could outwit me, boy?!" Once the mist had cleared, he picked up a vial and walked over, kicking Jak's arm to roll the limp figure onto its back. "You came looking for this and found your death. A fine mess you got yourself into, little boy." He sneered, shouting amidst his wild laughter. "I'll be greater than anyone this city has ever seen. Greater than that ridiculous old fool that works the power station... greater than Mar himself!" He knelt next to Jak's form, leaning foreward as he hissed out. "And it's all thanks to you. Mar himself couldn't have done better."  
  
His tirade was stopped by the sudden press of the barrel of a gun to the side of his head, and steel-backed cobalt eyes focusing on his face. Jak grinned, growling out, "That's a fat crock of bullshit if I ever heard it."  
  
Snagging the vial from the startled scientist with his free hand, he pulled the trigger three times, unleashing three bullets from the blaster mod into his head.  
  
Dradius fell without a sound and with barely a twitch. Jak, grumbling about blood on his tunic, shoved the body off and stood, staring at the vial in his hand.  
  
This was the stuff that could save Torn. He had to hurry... time was not on his side.  
  
*****  
  
"Ashelin, I got it!" Jak couldn't help but be somewhat proud of himself as he burst into the orphanage, startling Ashelin, Rayne, and most of the orphans. "Here, take it."  
  
The woman nodded quickly, taking the bottle he held carefully. She looked as if she had been crying. "Thank you, Jak... thank you so much... I'll take this to Dharma."  
  
She turned quickly, rushing into the room where Torn had been moved, left in the care of the petite KG medic. Rayne blinked at Jak, then followed quickly in a swirl of skirts. Jak was not far behind. From Dharma's shoulder, where she sat near Torn's inert form, Daxter peered at him nervously before scampering to his shoulder. "I was startin' to worry, pal," he quipped. "You took your sweet old time in there."  
  
"Look, guys, I appreciate your concern, but a girl can't work with all of you hovering. Rayne, make Ashelin some tea. Jak, sit with them and the orphans, 'kay?" Dharma didn't even look up as she set about measuring the appropriate amount of the antidote in vials and syringes. "This is the right counteragent, but if I don't measure it in the proper amount, I could give him too much or too little. Either one could be deadly, so *please*." Her eyes went to all of them, and the expression in them was pleading. "Give me time."  
  
Jak nodded slightly, reaching over to take Ashelin's arm in his hand, leading her out of the room behind Rayne. Daxter looked to his friend with a frown, moving back and forth across his shoulders nervously. "Jak, I don't like this. You don't think he's gonna...?"  
  
"He's not going to die," Ashelin interrupted quietly as she pulled away from Jak's grip, sitting down in a chair across the room once she made it there. She folded her hands in her lap, keeping her eyes focused on them. "He wouldn't. He's too stubborn to die."  
  
A sigh crossed Rayne's lips as she moved to the stove, setting on a kettle of water to boil again. "Lovebirds..."  
  
In an instant, Jak's eyes shot to Rayne. "I agree with Ashelin on this one. Torn's a stubborn bastard... he won't go down so easy."  
  
Rayne harrumphed, raising her brow. "I ne'er disagreed weth ye." She sighed as she poured a cup full of hot water, adding the appropriate amount of the proper herbs to it before walking over to press it into Ashelin's hands. "'ere ye are, dear'eart. Thes'll calm yer nerves."  
  
Ashelin didn't speak anymore after her earlier words, occasionally sipping at the tea in the cup, her hands visibly shaking. She was fighting hard to hide her obvious concern for the man everyone in the Underground knew was her lover, but in her usually bright green eyes, something seemed dull and alone. Jak almost felt sorry for her, watching her sit there.  
  
Nearly a half hour passed with no sound from the other room. In the end, Jak's nerves got the better of him... and Daxter as well. The ottsel slipped under Jak's chin to move to his other shoulder once again. "Jak, let's go see how the squirt's doin'. It's way too quiet in there, and it's been way too long."  
  
Jak nodded, and without a word of warning, he and his furry companion walked through the door to see what had happened within...  
  
*****  
  
Dharma didn't look up as Jak and Daxter stepped into the room. She didn't turn around, her hands folded tightly in her lap, shoulders hunched foreward. Jak didn't like the look of that at all. Daxter frowned, standing up on Jak's shoulder, his dark blue eyes searching for a better look at the figure on the bed as he spoke. "Hey, Dharma... uh... how is 'e?"  
  
Once more, there was no response. Jak's form tensed. "Dharma?"  
  
The girl winced, then turned to face the pair. Tears streamed down her round cheeks, and her bottom lip trembled. Fear and failure mixed in her voice as well as her expression. "Jak... I gave Torn the counteragent to the poison and I waited..." she began, pausing to take a shaky breath, "and just a minute or two ago, he opened his eyes and I thought he was gonna be fine so I said to him, 'hey there, bitchy-britches, welcome back to the land of the living'... and he just looked at me a minute longer and then he closed his eyes..." She stopped there, sniffling lightly. Jak's mind had already finished the sentence, even though it didn't want to. "Jak, he stopped breathing!"  
  
"...No way," Jak murmured. "No. You're *not* telling me Torn is dead!"  
  
She nodded quietly, lifting her gloved hands to wipe her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Jak, I did everything I could! I... I'm a medic... not a miracle-worker... I didn't think he was gonna die! I was so confident when you brought the antidote!"  
  
Daxter stared at her for a moment before he looked at Jak... and then turned to the doorway. His fur stood on end all over. "Uh... Jak. Don't look now, but we're gonna have one very distraught lady on our hands in 5... 4... 3... 2..."  
  
"Torn..." Jak barely heard the soft, whispering voice of Ashelin as she stared through all of them to Torn's form on the bed. Had she heard? "...no... he can't be dead... he can't be..." Her carefully-built walls and barriers were crumbling as the one person she truly felt for showed no response in front of her. Slowly, she moved foreward, brushing past Jak and dropping to her knees by the bed. "Oh, god... Torn... please, baby, wake up..."  
  
Jak turned his eyes away, his fists clenching. He had taken too much time getting through the fortress... wasted too much time in his inherent distrust when he had met Dharma. It had resulted in Torn's death. Rayne stood just behind him, her hands at her mouth, looking horribly distressed at this sudden, tragic turn of events.  
  
However, a sudden shout drew Jak from his reverie, and he spun instantly to find Ashelin on her feet, glaring at the form on the bed that was... laughing. Torn was laughing. Jak had never heard him laugh, and unnerving as it was to think of the one laughing *being* him, it was even more unnerving thinking that this same man was supposed to be dead.  
  
Ashelin was furious, punching Torn's arm as she used her other hand to furiously rub at the tears that stained her face. "You bastard! You had me scared to death!"  
  
Torn just smirked at her, shrugging. His face was still very pale, and he looked as if he was still suffering somewhat from the poison. Dharma glared at him and Rayne threw up her hands. "Ach, yer a horrid man!" she exclaimed. "Yeu nearly took three years off me life! An' Ashelin's been sae worried for ye, an' ye scare th' poor lass like tha'? Yeu ought tae be ashamed."  
  
"Yeah!" Daxter admonished, one paw resting on his fuzzy chest. "Some low bastard you are, scarin' the shit out of all of us!"  
  
Dharma still seemed rather puzzled, but after a moment, she hit a full pout, crossing her arms in agitation. "You could've at least told *me*. Jerk. And here I was thinking that the last thing I'd said to you ever was so mean! Well... I certainly take *that* back!"  
  
Once again, Torn just snickered. Ashelin clenched her fists, then turned to her friends. "Will you guys excuse us for a few minutes?" She glanced to Dharma then. "Please?"  
  
There was a pause before Dharma stood, grinning. "Right, right. C'mon, guys. Let's give these two some breathing room."  
  
The petite medic was quick about ushering the rest of the group out, closing the door behind her.  
  
As soon as the door was shut, Ashelin practically collapsed, her lips covering Torn's almost instantly, small hands pressing against the sides of his face as his hands came up to embrace her instinctively, although weakly. She lifted her head slightly, glaring at him like a viper ready to strike. "Don't you ever scare me like that again."  
  
Weakly, Torn moved his hand, stroking his fingers down Ashelin's back in a moment of affection he would never dare let anyone else witness. "Sorry. I couldn't help myself. I never get to be the odd man out." He managed to lift his head a little, stealing a kiss. "You've teased me about that more times than I can count."  
  
Ashelin frowned, kissing his jaw, then his cheek, then his ear. "I was scared to death I'd lost you..."  
  
"Oh, come on, Ashelin... you're being stupid." He gave a faint smile as the woman sat up to face him. "I'm fine."  
  
Once he had said that, Ashelin blinked, a slight smile crossing her face. She wiped her eyes and leaned foreward to kiss him again, this time more affectionately than passionately. She smiled softly against his lips, sitting up after a moment or so. "I know it was silly of me. Of course you're okay."  
  
Torn shook his head, then blinked, one ear twitching. He turned his pale eyes towards the door, then growled, shouting with some effort, "Keep your nose out of my business, brat!"  
  
What followed was the sound of Jak practically cracking up, as well as Daxter. The pair could hear Dharma giggling as well. Ashelin rolled her eyes. "Some people..."  
  
*****  
  
Almost a week after the incident, Torn sat quietly at his table in the Underground hideout, his eyes skimming a map. The poisoning incident had been written off as an attempt to root out members of the Underground as opposed to a direct attack on Torn himself... and the ex-KG preferred to keep it that way.  
  
Jak was across the room, grinning devilishly as he watched Torn work, lounging on one of the lower bunks. He hadn't let Torn live down the fact that he'd heard that little exchange with Ashelin. "You look like you're concentrating hard over there."  
  
"I'm debating the many ways I could kill you," Torn growled back. "Don't you have any better way to occupy your time than to annoy me?"  
  
Jak just shrugged, replying, "Not really. No missions means you're stuck with me."  
  
Torn hissed something in frustration, but didn't say any more. He owed a lot to Jak... the boy had risked his life to save his, after all. "Whatever. Brat."  
  
Once again, Jak snickered, leaning back on the bunk where he was laying. One hand propped his head up on the pillow as the other drifted down to scratch Daxter's back where the ottsel lay curled up on his stomach.  
  
Torn smirked a little as he glanced up at the pair. He'd protected them again, and Vin too, without anyone knowing about it. He sighed then, shaking his head as he looked back down at his work.  
  
He was going soft.  
  
*****  
  
"Commander, I would appreciate if the next time you let slip to the grunts the location of our top scientific mind in biological warfare, you MOVE the SCIENTIST." Erol winced slightly as Baron Praxis hissed out the last of that sentence. It had not been his fault that Jak had gotten into the palace and offed Dradius... but the fact remained that Dradius was dead and someone had to take the blame. Unfortunately for him, that someone had to be him. "And make certain that a guard is posted at all times once we find someone for a replacement... it will take a long time to replace all that we lost in that laboratory."  
  
Erol stiffened, then nodded. "Of course, Baron Praxis."  
  
After the man had fallen silent, Praxis' eyes turned to Lesca. "And Lesca, double-check your sources before you send our men out to do anything. Also, make certain to wait for clearance before ordering an execution. Is that understood?"  
  
Lesca just nodded, her voice slightly toned down as she spoke. "Of course, Baron Praxis."  
  
The man nodded slightly, steepling his fingers. "Very good. Erol, you're dismissed. Lesca, I've some things I wish to discuss further with you, so please stay here."  
  
She gave a bow to acknowledge as Erol spun and stalked out. He stormed down the hallway and down to the barracks. Once down there, he threw open the door to a training room, startling a young female guard into attention. She drew into a full straight posture, saluting harshly. "Commander Erol! Do you need me?"  
  
The commander growled. "As you were, lieutenant. I've a little problem I want you to deal with." His eyes shot to her. She was watching his every move, attentive as always. "Lucia... listen to me now. I want Jak brought to me. I don't want him dead. I want him alive and in fairly decent condition, is that understood?"  
  
The girl saluted again, nodding. "Of course, Commander. I'll be right on it."  
  
Erol nodded as he stepped out of the training room, heading to his own apartment outside of the palace. He trusted the girl... and he knew what he wanted.  
  
It was an unhealthy obsession... but everyone had their little quirks, didn't they?  
  
~=~End~=~  
  
{/Erol's lieutenant has a plan... one that involves ridding the KG of Jak once and for all. Lucia may be ruthless, but Jak is just as much of a fighter, and he's willing to duel to the death with the woman if that's what she seems to want. She promised a clean fight, but as Jak is soon to discover, even that has its disadvantages...  
  
Jak now finds himself fighting for his life against one of the toughest fighters in the KG, and it'll take all he's got to survive...  
  
Next Chapter: Bad Faith./} 


End file.
